NEWS

I

Israel's Islamic Party:
Is It A Threat?

EHUD KATZ

Special to The Jewish News

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10

hen three Israel ar-
my recruits were
hacked to death at a
tent camp near Kibbutz Gal-
Ed on February 14, 1992, it
was widely assumed that the
killers were Palestinians from
the West Bank. The in-
vestigation, however, led to
the arrest of five Islamic fun-
damentalist Israeli Arabs,
reawakening the concern that
accompanied the emergence
of the officially recognized
Islamic party in the last
municipal elections.
The Islamic victory over the
veteran Communist ad-
ministration in Um el-Fahm,
the second largest Arab town
in Israel, was attributed to
the inefficiency of the Com-
munist administration and
the Islamic party's intensive
educational and social activi-
ty — opening kindergartens
and other facilities.
In Kafr Kassem, another
large Arab village, the chair-
man of the local council was
considered efficient and suc-
cessful. But he was also over-
thrown. According to his
Islamic rival, Ibrahim Sarsur,
"he provided improvements
in this life, but we offered
eternal life."
Israeli Islamic Party head
Sheikh Nimr Hussein, mayor
of Um el-Fahm, was educated
at the Hebron Islamic College
and spent some time in deten-
tion for security offenses.
Still, he fiercely condemned
the Gal-Ed murders and
declared that the Islamic Par-
ty would operate within the
law. His party goes to great
pains to avoid identification
with the outlawed Islamic
Jihad organization, based in
Lebanon.

Former Defense Minister
Moshe Arens pointed out that
the vast majority of the
600,000 Israeli Arabs are law-
abiding and should not be
blamed for the acts of a few
individuals. However, he said,
"The root of the evil lies in
the spread of Islamic fun-
damentalism." Some of the
party's virulently anti-Israel
and anti-Semitic literature
was found in the suspect's
homes.
Dr. Alexander Bligh, former
Prime Minister Shamir's Ad-
visor on Arab affairs, propos-
ed banning or restricting in-
flammatory Islamic
newspapers. "Till now our at-
titude has been that as long
as nobody took this incite-

ment too seriously we should
not interfere with freedom of
expression. We now have to
reconsider this."
The Israeli Islamic party
draws its inspiration from the
Islamic movements in Judea,
Samaria, the Gaza Strip,. and
the Moslem world, all of
which oppose a peace settle-
ment with Israel. Saut el-Haq
u el-Hurriye (The Voice of
Truth and Freedom), the
Israeli movement's weekly
newspaper, regularly prints
virulent attacks on Israel,
Zionism and the peace
process.
Ibrahim Sarsur is a far cry
from the popular image of the
Islamic politician. With an
engineering degree from the
University of London, he is
young, cordial and soft-
spoken, speaks excellent
Hebrew and English, and
prefers a business suit to
traditional Arab dress.
In his opinion, Dr. Bligh's
description of the material in

The Israeli Islamic
Party head spent
some time in
detention for
security purposes.

Saut el-Haq u el-Hurriye as
inflammatory "is exag-
gerated." The paper, he says,
is not the official organ of the
Islamic party but expresses
the views of the paper's
writers. The Kach move-
ment's publications, Mr. Sar-
sur points out, are virulently
anti-Arab, yet nobody sug-
gests banning them.
Kach has been barred from
running in the Knesset elec-
tions, and is totally marginal
even at the local level. "Not
one Kach representative has
been elected as head of a local
authority," says Dr. Bligh.
The Israeli Islamic party,
Mr. Sarsur argued, clearly
stated in its recently-
published platform that it
supports the peace process.
Admittedly it believes Israel
should negotiate with the
PLO, withdraw to the 1967
borders and allow the
establishment of a Palesti-
nian state, but in that respect
it is no different from the
veteran Israeli Arab parties.
The outlawed Islamic Jihad
terrorist group, which is ac-
tive in Lebanon and the ter-
ritories, Mr. Sarsur noted,
had threatened to assassinate
Sheikh Nimr Hussein for con-
demning the Gal-Ed murders
on Israeli television. ❑